@Sky Six Hello, We do have some stories about the Long Beach Marine Stadium and the Colorado Lagoon that is next to the water race course. The Marine Stadium leads into the open Alamitos Bay main channel that leads out to the ocean. But the one thing from the early days was that if we did not want to go to the ocean, the water area of the Colorado Lagoon was the place to go for us. The calm waters, swimming with no boats around and diving off of the edges was fun. On weekends, the Marine Stadium, to the South could be seen and heard as it was a stone’s throw from the Colorado Lagoon. When we attended the events at the Marine Stadium, it was fun to dip our feet in the waters, but were always given a warning not to go out deeper. The paved area for towable inboard and outboard boats was off limits, unless you owned one or the other. The Marine Stadium was the far eastern side of the Belmont Shore area and was a destination place for a lot of people. In the early days, it was a row of homes along the adjoining street and on the other side of the water lane, were oil fields and a few buildings scattered along the PCH Coast Highway heading North or South. Despite one of those things about development, it was not until the home developments began to crowd around the Marine Stadium during any activity, let alone high performance v8 powered boats or the Bee buzzer outboard motors at high speed, that the complaints started to flow into the city. Jnaki There are no comparisons of daily boats accelerating down the fairly smooth waters with skiers being towed behind. But, on race day, the drag boats were tremendously loud on single runs and definitely louder on elimination events. The sound carried well over miles around the whole stadium. It was like living next door to Lion’s Dragstrip and all of the activity that goes with noise complaints around any dragstrip. This location was part of our teenage hangout and cruising area, expanded. During our college days, the campus was located just up PCH on the hill. Even from there, the view and the excitement of attending drag racing on the water was a big deal. My wife and I went there with our El Camino, a row boat in the beginning and finally using our Mercury Outboard for an easier transition to water activities or just to tour the canals of Belmont Shore. But, the thrill of a flat bottom boat juggling to stay flat or the Hydro hulled racers actually throwing rooster tails that the excitement was tremendous. Many drag racers used this mode to the same excitement with their drag racing motors, now conveniently placed in the fast hulls. Despite the location of the crowded shoreline during the races, we tried to use the rowboat tied to the end buoy of the stadium with several other boats anchored there. It was exciting even to see the end of the races and the hydro hulls coming to a stop (or making a wide, slow turn back to the pits) right before our tied to the buoy rowboat, on the water, location. During the week and on most summer days, it was just a local place for families to be near water. But, on weekends, the activity increased 10 fold and the excitement began. YRMV Note: There is a great HAMB thread posted by @LANCE-SPEED that showcases a lot of different ski boats, some drag racing and a place to put my Long Beach Marine Stadium drag boat racing days posts. Check it out! pages 20 and 21 L.B. Marine Stadium posts/action films…
The Jalopy Journal
